


Pups

by sneetchstar



Series: Arya x Gendry Week 2020 [4]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family Separation, Post-Canon, Stark children, axg week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25741147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sneetchstar/pseuds/sneetchstar
Summary: The lord and lady of Storm's End take their children on a visit to Winterfell
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Series: Arya x Gendry Week 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862086
Comments: 15
Kudos: 116





	Pups

**Author's Note:**

> Fourth prompt for Arya x Gendry Week 2020: Family Tradition

“You didn’t say it was this cold in the North.” The complaint comes from 9-year-old Elinor Catelyn Stark Baratheon as she scowls up at her mother.

“I most certainly did,” Arya insists. “I do believe I said, and I quote, ‘It will be colder there than you’ve ever experienced.’”

“She did,” Eddard Davos Stark Baratheon, Elinor’s twin brother, chimes in from behind them, where he is riding beside his father.

“ _She did_ ,” Elinor mocks, her scowl deepening.

“Nell,” Arya chides, and the girl sags.

“Sorry, Mum. Sorry, Ned,” she apologizes. “Trade with me,” she says to her brother, brightening. “I want to ride by Da and San.”

“Sure,” Ned agrees, spurring his horse forward as his sister drops back.

They are nearly to Winterfell. They sailed from the Stormlands to White Harbor, where Sansa had horses waiting for them for the last leg of the journey. Their progress was slow due to having not only their young twins, but also 5-year-old Sandor Jon along. And though Arya insists that her current pregnancy isn’t slowing them down, Gendry tactfully says nothing about how frequently they stop so she can rest her back and relieve her bladder.

“Is that it?” Ned asks, pointing to a tower jutting up above the treeline.

“Yes,” Arya answers. “That’s my childhood home. Are you ready to meet your Aunt Sansa?”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Why no, Nell?” Arya asks, turning to look back at her daughter. She smiles as she sees the girl riding tall in the saddle, her gray eyes shining beneath her black hair. She strongly favors her father in looks, but with her mother’s eyes. Ned, on the other hand, looks more like Arya, only he has Baratheon blue eyes staring out from his long Stark face.

Young Sandor so far is an interesting combination of being very Baratheon in looks but very Stark in behavior. Arya and Gendry are both very curious about how child number four will turn out.

“She’s a _queen_. She’s someone important and Da said she’s a little scary,” Nell says.

“Gendry!” Arya exclaims, frowning at him.

“To be fair, I said your sister is a little scary, but you’re far scarier,” Gendry explains. “She is just choosing to forget that part.”

“All right then,” Arya allows, slowing her horse a bit so she doesn’t have to look behind her. “Yes, she’s a queen. Yes, she can be stern when she needs to be. But she is also kind and warm and gentle. And she is _very_ protective of her family. Sound like anyone you know?”

“Yeah,” Nell admits.

“We protect our own. That’s what being a pack is about. You may not _look_ much like a wolf, but you definitely are one,” Arya says, and her daughter smiles.

“Just a little further now,” Gendry says, leaning down to kiss his son on the top of his head.

xXx

“So, what do you think?” Arya asks Sansa. It is late and the children are all in bed. Gendry has collapsed in an exhausted heap in their chambers, leaving the two sisters to catch up.

“I still can’t believe you named your son Sandor,” Sansa says with a laugh.

“I told you why,” Arya groans, rolling her eyes. “I owe him a lot. So do you.”

“I know,” she sighs. “Your children are all wonderful,” she says, getting back to the point. “But I’d like to keep my opinions to myself for a bit on this matter. I want to see how they’ll do here first.”

Arya nods. “I know what I think, too. And I’ll tell you what Gendry thinks,” she laughs. “He wants to keep his pups tied to his side forever.”

“Of course he does,” Sansa agrees with a laugh. “And can you blame him? The poor man grew up with no family. Now that he has one, he wants to be greedy with it.”

“Mmm,” Arya agrees with a nod. “I want this to be their decision though,” she says. “The children’s, I mean.”

“When are you going to tell them why you’re really here?” Sansa asks.

“In a few days. Like you, I want to see how they do.”

xXx

Arya relishes the crisp weather of the North, smiling as she closes her eyes to better feel the wind on her face as she stands on the crest of a hill just outside the keep.

“What are you doing?”

She opens her eyes and looks over into the face of her daughter. “Remembering,” she answers. “When I was a child, and things were simpler. Before everything went to hell.” The twins have a broad knowledge of her history with Gendry, but they’ve decided to go easy with the details until they are a bit older.

“But you met Da because of it,” Nell points out.

“The one truly good thing that came out of that mess,” Arya agrees. “Did you need something, Love?”

“Ned is driving me crazy,” she answers. “He’s far too excited about everything here. It’s like he’s never seen a castle before.” She gives her mother a look that Arya recognizes all too well, because it’s one of her own. “We _live_ in a castle.”

“Yes, but it’s a _different_ castle,” Arya laughs. “Are you not enjoying yourself here?” she asks. They begin walking back, because it will be dinner soon and she doesn’t want to be late.

“I am. I mean, it’s nice seeing where you were a girl and getting to meet Aunt Sansa. You were right; she’s very nice. I like the Weirwood forest. And the hot springs. But everything is so different here. And it’s so _cold_ ,” Nell answers.

“You should have been here when it was truly winter,” Arya says. “Wait. No, you definitely should not have been,” she adds, remembering the horrors that true winter brought with it.

“I don’t think I would have enjoyed that at all,” Nell agrees. They walk through the gates and she asks, “Can we go to Wintertown tomorrow?”

“Yes,” Arya answers. “I already told you we would. I’m getting tired of listening to Sandor ask about it,” she adds with a laugh.

“Me too,” Nell says, nodding.

“Nell! Aunt Sansa showed me the tower Uncle Bran fell from!” Ned exclaims, running towards them.

“Why would you want to see that?” Nell asks. “That’s a terrible story. And he didn’t fall, he was pushed.”

“It’s our _history_ , Nell,” Ned protests. “It’s important.”

“You’re both right,” Arya says, glancing at Sansa, who is walking towards them.

“Yes. It is a terrible story, but it is also important,” Sansa chimes in. “There are so many terrible things in our history – in all history – but we cannot forget them, because they helped shape who we are today.”

“Not only that, but we can learn from them as well. Remember when you didn’t listen to my instructions and your bow string snapped against the inside of your arm?” Arya asks Nell, who nods. “That’s just a small thing, but you thought it was terrible at the time—”

“It _was_ ,” Nell insists.

“But you learned from it, didn’t you?” Arya finishes, and her daughter nods. “That’s why we have to remember the bad things. So we can try our hardest not to do them again.”

“Yes, Mother,” Nell and Ned both say.

“I think it’s about time for dinner. Are you hungry?” Sansa asks, and the twins both nod excitedly and run towards the dining hall.

Nell starts to go the wrong way, but Ned tugs her arm and pulls her with him.

Sansa loops her arm through Arya’s and they walk together.

“I think we can tell them,” she says. “And I think I know how it’s going to turn out.”

“Do you?” Arya asks. “I’ll have you know that my original prediction was correct.”

“Oh, is that so? Well, seeing as how you never _told_ me what this prediction was, you have no way to prove it,” Sansa replies.

“Ned,” Arya simply says, and Sansa nods.

xXx

“Don’t go running off,” Arya says when everyone has finished eating. “We have something to tell you all.”

Three sets of eyes, two blue and one gray, widen in surprise and alarm as they look between the three adults at the table with them.

“It’s nothing to worry about,” Gendry says with a laugh. “It’s… a good thing, actually.”

“You trying to convince them or you?” Arya mutters, just so he can hear, and he nudges her knee with his under the table. Then she looks at Sansa. “This was your idea,” she prompts.

Sansa clasps her hands together, resting them on the table. “I have been married twice, both unhappily, and refuse to marry a third time,” she says. “Therefore, I will not have a child of my own. But the North needs an heir to run the kingdom when I am gone. So I wrote to your parents and asked them if they thought one of you would be a good choice to be my heir.” She is pointedly looking at the twins as she speaks. “It would be your choice, of course. I wouldn’t force you, but I am hoping one of you would like to stay here, with me, to be fostered and raised as my heir.”

“Now? As in we wouldn’t go back home to Storm’s End?” Nell asks. She looks petrified.

“Yes. I’m sorry to surprise you like this, but we really wanted you to first experience things here without any expectations or preconceived notions,” Arya says.

“What’s preconceived notions?” Sandor asks.

“That means having an opinion about something before you really know anything about it,” Gendry explains.

“Oh. Am I staying here?” he asks.

“No, Sweetling, you’ll be coming home with Da and me,” Arya says. “You’re still too young.”

“I’m always too young,” he complains.

“Trust me, I understand. But we have something special in mind for you, too, I promise,” she says.

“We do?” Gendry asks, earning him a look of _shut up_ from his wife.

“I want to stay,” Ned suddenly says. “I like it here. A lot. I want to stay and learn about Winterfell and the North and be Aunt Sansa’s heir.”

Arya slowly smiles. “Told you so,” she tells Gendry, who simply leans back in his chair and sighs. Sandor decides to move from his chair and onto his father’s lap.

“I had a feeling you would want to stay, Ned,” Sansa says. “Thank you for being brave and volunteering.” She looks at Nell. “Nell, you will be an amazing Lady of Storm’s End. The first Lady Paramount and Wardeness of the South. I know you will make us proud.”

Nell beams. “I… I get to be your heir, Da?” she asks. “Even though I’m a girl? It’s not going to be Sandor because he’s a boy?”

“We have decided that having only sons be heirs is an outdated and stupid tradition,” Gendry says. “We sent a raven to King Bran shortly after the two of you were born, asking that he consider making it a royal decree for all of the Six Kingdoms. It has worked in Dorne, the Iron Islands, and now the North, so why not everywhere?”

“So did you know then that I was going to be Aunt Sansa’s heir?” Ned asks.

“No, my love. It was something your father and I had already discussed a lot, before I was even pregnant. If our first born was a girl, it was important to me that she be given the same opportunities and freedoms that she would have if she were a boy, and your father wholeheartedly agreed,” Arya explains.

“Your mother never wanted to be a Lady,” Sansa says, smirking. “She wanted to be a knight.”

“She’s certainly qualified to be one,” Gendry adds.

“When I grew up, I realized what I truly objected to was the lack of choice in my life. I want better for my children,” Arya says, her hand absently straying over the small swell of her stomach.

“You are an excellent Lady,” Sansa says, and Gendry nods.

“I don’t know about ‘excellent,’ but I’m certainly unique,” Arya laughs. “But the people in Storm’s End seem to like me—”

“They love you,” Gendry interjects.

“So I must be doing all right,” she finishes, ignoring her husband’s interruption. “Ned,” she continues, turning towards her son, “you’re sure this is what you want?”

“Yes,” he answers. Then, “You’ll come back and visit though, right? After Baby is born, so I can meet her?”

“Her?” Sansa says.

“He and Gendry are both convinced it’s a girl,” Arya explains. “And yes, we will visit. And you can always send us ravens. In fact, you had _better_ send us ravens. Lots of ravens.”

“Yes, Mum,” Ned replies. Then he looks at his sister. “ _You_ might get to be the first Lady Paramount and Wardeness of the South, but I’m going to be a _king_ ,” he goads.

“Enjoy freezing your backside, Your Grace,” Nell retorts, but they are both grinning at each other, so Arya, Gendry, and Sansa know they are happy with how things have turned out.

xXx

Arya and Gendry stay at Winterfell for a full moon’s turn. They got Ned fully settled into his room, which Sansa let him choose. He chose Bran’s old room, because he liked that it was big and high up and “I’ll be sleeping where the King of the Six kingdoms slept.”

They took several trips to Wintertown. The children all enjoyed going and seeing how it differed from the town near Storm’s End. Sansa accompanied them the first few times, wanting to establish the new development with the people. Wanting them to meet the young man who would one day become the King in the North.

His Stark face, even with its Baratheon blue eyes, turned out to benefit young Ned, as well as the fact that he was named for his maternal grandfather. And the natural gregariousness he inherited from his mother helped quite a bit, too, and the people seemed to take to him quite quickly.

The fact that he is the son of the Bringer of Dawn didn’t hurt either. All three children noticed how the people all seemed to revere their mother, treating her like the great hero she is despite her preference to be treated the same as everyone else.

“The North remembers,” Arya had simply said with a shrug. “Good or bad, they remember.”

“So watch yourself,” Gendry cautions. “People tend to remember the bad more than the good.”

“Yes, Da,” Ned obediently replies. “I won’t cause any scandals, I promise.”

“You’re a little young to be worrying about scandals, but we appreciate your diligence,” Arya says, ruffling his hair.

“Mum,” he whines, jerking his head away.

Arya smiles at Gendry over their son’s head. They know he’ll do just fine.

xXx

When it is time to part ways, the farewells are tearful. For all that Elinor and Eddard squabble and pick at each other, they do have a deep bond, and neither one is shy about letting their tears show.

“I can’t believe you’re staying here. I have to go back to Storm’s End without you,” Nell quietly says, sniffling.

“I’ll miss you tons. Even though you’re annoying,” Ned says. He swipes the back of his hand across his eyes.

“And you’re stupid, but I’ll miss you, too,” Nell replies. “Your _Grace_ ,” she adds, sneering his future title.

“You had better take good care of Storm’s End, because we don’t know how trustworthy Sandor is yet,” Ned says.

“Hey!” their younger brother protests. “I’m trustworthy!”

“You’re five. You’re not even a proper _person_ yet,” Nell teases.

“Neither are you,” Arya says.

“Mum!”

“You’re only nine. You want to know what I wanted to be when I was nine? A wolf. Not like a Stark wolf, like we always say, but an _actual_ wolf,” Arya says.

Nell sighs. “He’s really staying here and we’re really going,” she repeats.

“Yes. But we’ll send ravens and we’ll visit when we can, and…” Arya drifts off, her eyes focusing across the clearing, towards forest.

“Mum?”

“Arya?”

“There,” Arya points towards the treeline. The slightest motion caught her periphery, distracting her.

“What is it?” Ned asks, and Sandor steps over and takes her hand, concerned.

“Nymeria,” she whispers. “She’s still… no, that’s not Nymeria. She’s smaller.” A large wolf quietly pads out of the forest, her feet nearly silent on the snow. She’s larger than normal wolves but smaller than a full direwolf.

“Her daughter. Or niece,” Sansa says. “I’ve seen her around. Just glimpses. I wondered if she was the offspring of one of ours. We never found out what happened to Summer or Shaggydog.”

Arya nods, most of her attention on the approaching wolf. Just as she is in the open, four wolf pups come bounding out after her. She stops and turns her head, waiting for them to catch up.

Arya steps forward, Sandor’s hand slipping out of hers, and Sansa follows close behind. The two Stark sisters walk towards the advancing wolf but do not get too close, choosing to let the wolf decide what to do.

“Da? What’s happening?” Ned asks.

“I’m not sure,” Gendry answers. “But your mother and aunt know what they’re doing.” He’s not sure if he’s reassuring his children or himself.

Gendry and the children watch, awestruck, as the massive wolf meets Arya and Sansa in the clearing. She dips her head to the women, then waits. Arya moves first, extending her hand, palm-down, to be sniffed. Sansa follows shortly after.

All three children gasp when the wolf nuzzles their hands, then moves forward and licks their faces. They can hear their laughter drifting through the frigid air. A moment later, the pups bound forward, and Arya and Sansa crouch down to greet them.

“Can I go, Da?” Ned asks, ever the brave one.

Gendry hesitates before answering. “Slowly. And listen to everything your mother tells you,” he says.

Ned steps forward, and he only takes two steps before Nell joins him, her hand slipping into his. Sandor, not wanting to be left out, hurries up to his siblings and takes Ned’s other hand.

Arya turns her head, like she senses her children nearing. “It’s all right,” she says. “Come.”

Gendry still hangs back, unsure if he should join them. Watching his children meet the huge wolf and her pups brings a smile to his face, and when they start playing with the pups, he suddenly realizes what is happening.

He begins walking towards them, and as he approaches, the wolf mother nuzzles Arya’s swollen stomach. Then she gently picks up one of the pups, a small thing with mottled gray and white fur, and pushes it at her. 

By the time he reaches them, each child has paired off with a pup. Ned’s is all gray with a white face, ear and white-tipped tail. Nell’s is nearly black with some brown mottling, and Sandor’s is brown, gray, and white with one ear that refuses to stand upright.

“So this is happening,” Gendry quietly says, and Arya turns to look up at him with a grin he knows all too well.

“Maybe,” she replies, but he can tell she knows. She moves to stand and he helps her up. The wolf mother nudges the gray pup towards Arya one more time, dips her head to her and Sansa, then turns to leave.

The pups don’t follow their mother.

“Mum? Why is she leaving?” Nell asks, her hands gentle as she pets her pup.

“She’s giving us her pups,” Arya answers. “Remember me telling you about Nymeria?”

“And Lady?” Sansa adds.

“And Ghost, and Summer, and Grey Wind, and Shaggydog,” Sandor chimes in.

“Yes. These pups are descendants of one of them. They’re yours now,” Arya says.

“We can take them back to Storm’s End with us?” Sandor asks, eyes wide.

“Yes,” she answers.

“And that one is for little sister?” he presses.

“Yes,” Arya laughs. The pup is a female, so maybe Ned and Gendry are right about the baby. She picks up the pup and rests it on her belly. “Come on. We need to get moving or we’ll be late.”

“Are the pups going to be allowed on the ship?” Nell asks, cuddling her pup. “Oh, she’s _so_ soft. And warm.”

“I’ll make sure of it,” Arya says.

The second round of farewells are less tearful, but feel more final. But Arya feels better leaving her son here with Sansa now that he has the extra protection from his new pup.

“Take good care of him,” she says. “Don’t spoil him. Be firm. He needs to know that _you_ are in charge.”

“Yes, Mum.”

“Aunt Sansa will help you. And give him a good name.”

“Yes, Mum.”

She tightly hugs her son, then turns away, cuddling the pup for the new baby as a way to distract herself so she doesn’t cry.

But when Gendry joins her, his blue eyes moist, she smiles at him and lets a tear fall.

“He’ll be a good king,” Arya says once they are on their way to the harbor.

“He’ll be a _great_ king,” Gendry replies.

“He had better be or I’ll send Sandor to usurp him,” Nell says, grinning broadly when her comment is met with laughter from her parents.

xXx

Queen Sansa Stark rules for thirty more years before she decides to step down, handing over the North to her nephew and heir. King Eddard Davos Baratheon Stark (he chose to make Stark his official surname to honor the North), is beloved by the people in the North, high and lowborn alike. 

Lady Elinor Catelyn Stark Baratheon, Lady Paramount of the Stormlands and Wardeness of the South, takes Storm’s End approximately two years after that, when Arya and Gendry decide they are done with responsibility and their daughter is ready for it.

Ser Sandor Jon Stark Baratheon rises to become Lord Commander of the Queensguard in King’s Landing under Queen Hanna the Wise, daughter of Grand Maester Samwell Tarly and his wife, Lady Gilly Tarly.

Lady Lomelle Sansa Stark Baratheon is officially Lady-in-Waiting to her elder sister, but in reality, is her advisor and protector. Nell doesn’t actually need that much protecting, because she is well-trained herself, but Lady Lommy is reputed to be the second-deadliest woman in Westeros. After her mother.

All four children are allowed to marry whomever they choose.

**Author's Note:**

> For the purposes of this story, Elinor was Gendry's mother's name.
> 
> Yes, the youngest Stark Baratheon child is named after Lommy, but only because neither Arya nor Gendry could bring themselves to name their baby girl after Hot Pie.


End file.
